Colorado Springs or Phoenix?

Neither city is a swimming destination, and what water they have is different in kind. In Colorado Springs that means public pools and chilly reservoirs, and the water day people remember is rafting on the Arkansas River.

Phoenix's water is warmer. There are resort pools with slides and lazy rivers, small beaches on Saguaro Lake and Canyon Lake among bare desert cliffs, and tubing on the lower Salt River in summer.

Phoenix eats better. Its cooking has a regional identity in Sonoran Mexican food: carne asada, flour tortillas so thin you can almost see through them and bacon-wrapped hot dogs from evening carts. It also has a strong name for wood-fired pizza and bread, and Scottsdale covers the polished resort end.

Colorado Springs is more casual, with green chile, barbecue and burgers, and its craft breweries are the real strength. Tejon Street downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs are pleasant places to eat, but few meals there are worth planning a day around.

Neither city has an old centre to wander, but Phoenix has the museums that justify a day indoors. These are the Heard Museum's Native American collection, the large Musical Instrument Museum and Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's desert studio, with Hohokam ruins at Pueblo Grande on top.

Colorado Springs has a shorter list, led by the aluminium spires of the Air Force Academy's Cadet Chapel, the Olympic and Paralympic Museum and the Fine Arts Center's Southwestern collection. What it does have is old streets to stroll in Old Colorado City and Victorian Manitou Springs, something Phoenix offers only in the few houses of Heritage Square.

Phoenix gives you a real choice of night out. There are the clubs and rooftop bars of Old Town Scottsdale, the student bars of Tempe's Mill Avenue and the cocktail lounges and craft beer of Roosevelt Row, with bars open until 2am. The catch is distance, so you pick one district and take a ride-hail home.

Colorado Springs is a town for a pint after the trail. A few blocks of Tejon Street fill at weekends, but many taprooms close well before midnight and weeknights are quiet.

Colorado Springs has the grander mountain setting. Pikes Peak rises to over 4,300m straight above town and can be climbed on foot or reached by road or cog railway. The red sandstone of Garden of the Gods has both easy paths and serious climbing, and the ski resorts and Great Sand Dunes are within reach.

Phoenix's desert is excellent in its own way, with Camelback Mountain, South Mountain and the saguaro forest of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Its limit is summer heat that makes hiking after mid-morning dangerous, whereas in Colorado Springs the thing to manage is the altitude.

Colorado Springs has a slightly better ring of outings close by. Denver's museums are a little over an hour north, the gold-mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor sit up steep mountain roads, and the Royal Gorge Bridge is near Cañon City.

Phoenix's best outings lie further out. The hillside mining town of Jerome, Prescott's courthouse square and Sedona's red rock country are to the north, while Tucson's adobe barrios and Mission San Xavier del Bac are to the south. The Grand Canyon is too far for a comfortable day, and in both cities nearly every outing needs a car.

Colorado Springs suits outdoorsy children better. Hand-feeding giraffes at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, the cog railway up Pikes Peak, cave tours and the Manitou Cliff Dwellings are all short outings. Altitude and strong sun need watching, and there is no aquarium or big theme park.

Phoenix has those indoor fallbacks, with an aquarium, a science centre, a children's museum and water parks, plus spring training baseball in March. Its summer heat makes outdoor time risky for young children, though, so it works best for families who come between autumn and spring.

Both cities really need a car, so the difference is in what you can manage without one. Phoenix has a light rail line linking the airport, downtown and Tempe, which is handy if your stay sits along it, and ride-hailing fills the gaps.

Colorado Springs has no equivalent. Instead it has three small walkable areas in downtown, Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, which stay pleasant on foot through the summer months when walking in Phoenix is punishing.

Phoenix is the better place to shop. It has a large luxury mall in Scottsdale, an open-air mall near the Biltmore district and galleries and boutiques in Old Town Scottsdale. Its distinctive buy is Navajo and Zuni silver and turquoise, Hopi katsina carvings and rugs from museum shops and reputable galleries.

Colorado Springs works on a smaller scale. There are rock and gem shops, Western wear, outdoor gear and local crafts in the old storefronts of Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs, then outlets and big-box stores, with no luxury shopping to speak of.

Overall costs are much the same. Restaurant bills with tips and a hire car run at normal American levels in both, and free trails keep the daily spend down.

The difference is timing. Phoenix swings hard with the seasons: Scottsdale resorts are expensive from January to April and far cheaper in the summer heat. Colorado Springs is steadier, with reasonably priced chain hotels along the interstate, and Garden of the Gods and the canyon parks are free to enter.

Phoenix has the full set of big-city companies: a symphony, Arizona Opera and Ballet Arizona. Touring Broadway shows play ASU Gammage, Frank Lloyd Wright's round auditorium in Tempe, and the Musical Instrument Museum has an intimate concert hall. Seasons run from autumn to spring, matching the best weather.

Colorado Springs has a philharmonic, the Fine Arts Center's theatre company and summer concerts at the amphitheatre, but no opera house, and big musicals come only occasionally. It suits someone who happens to find a show on the right night, not someone planning a trip around one.

Phoenix is one of the classic places in America for a resort rest. Large desert resorts sit at the foot of Camelback Mountain and through north Scottsdale, with full spas, treatments using sage, clay and agave, and dry winter warmth for lying by the pool. It costs resort money, though, and there are no public baths.

Colorado Springs has a smaller but more unusual offer in Manitou Springs, a town founded around carbonated mineral springs. There you can fill a cup at the public fountains and soak in outdoor tubs facing the mountains. Beyond that and the spa at the century-old grand hotel, the choice is thin, and the well-known Colorado hot springs are more than two hours away.